Shows
Trip the Beltway Fantastic With Kelley Vlahos and FriendsWhat if Trump did ‘Just Walk Away’ From Ukraine Peace Talks?Trump administration has worked doggedly to follow through on its promise to end the war. President Trump started talks with Moscow, which didn’t make the Ukrainians and the EU happy. He then worked to bring Zelensky into the fold after some tense moments in the Oval Office.Trump then tried to bring about a ceasefire, which really didn’t work as both sides blamed each other for not keeping it. Meanwhile, Europe is seemingly determined to undermine all of it by continuing to call for more weapons and aid to Ukraine, despite all evidence on the grou...2025-05-0239 minTrip the Beltway Fantastic With Kelley Vlahos and FriendsDecline and Fall: American Style! w/ Mike VlahosAccording to analysts, if the Military Industrial Congressional Intelligence Media and Think Tank Complex gets its way, the total defense budget will reach $1 trillion by 2027. That’s not hard to imagine given that the budget request for 2025, which all includes our nuclear weapons programs and other defense related activities not under the DoD appropriations, is close to $900 billion already. Considering that we gave Ukraine some $175 billion over the last two and a half years, it’s not a stretch to think we may get to that trillion mark even sooner. So what are we spending it on...2024-08-0236 minTrip the Beltway Fantastic With Kelley Vlahos and FriendsThe Art of Failing at Proxy War w/ Michael VlahosOur guest for this episode is Michael Vlahos, a writer, a historian of military strategy and history, and author of the book Fighting Identity: Sacred War and World Change. Over several decades, he has taught war and strategy at Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Naval War College, and has conducted strategic analysis for Johns Hopkins Applied Physic Laboratory. He is a weekly contributor to The John Batchelor Show, and has been publishing articles in major magazines and journals for as long as I’ve known him for 25 years as of this September. He is a non-resident fellow at th...2024-04-2247 minTrip the Beltway Fantastic With Kelley Vlahos and FriendsTrailerKelley Vlahos is back behind the mic in this exhilarating new series!2024-04-1401 min
Crashing the War PartyAdam Weinstein and the US Troops in Harm's Way in the Middle EastThere are currently 2,500 American troops in Iraq and another 900 in Syria. Their bases have come under repeated fire in both countries since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. According to Pentagon officials, Iranian-backed militias are to blame, and they expect more as fighting ramps up in Gaza and the West Bank. Adam Weinstein, a senior fellow on Middle East issues at the Quincy Institute and an Afghanistan War veteran, spoke with Dan and Kelley this week about how vulnerable these troops are today. He also talked about the risks of the war expanding to Lebanon and the possibility of...2023-10-2643 min
Crashing the War PartyJames Carden: Saying the quiet part out loud about the Ukrainian counter-offensiveDoes Washington have a plan B if the Ukrainian counteroffensive doesn't work out? Kelley and Daniel talk to foreign policy and politics writer James Carden about continued maximalist talk in the Beltway, setting up the Ukraine war for another forever war. He also talks about the "peace conference" in Saudi Arabia last weekend and his disappointment that there is no real diplomatic push on behalf of the major powers. Moreover, how politics in Washington are precluding actual debate on Ukraine, whether it be over the new aid package that the Biden administration now seeks or the lack of a...2023-08-1140 min
Crashing the War PartyArab leaders flip the script on Syria. Does the US get left behind? Josh Landis explainsThe US has hoped and wished and in the last 12 years backed armed opposition efforts to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad. After a bloody war that has left the country in virtual ruins, Assad remains in power. Not only that, but Arab leaders are now bringing him back into the regional fold. The U.S. isn't happy, but what can it do? Joshua Landis, University of Oklahoma professor and Director of the school's Center of Middle East Studies, joins Dan and Kelley this week to talk about one thing that should happen, and that's the lifting of crippling sanctions on t...2023-05-1240 min
Crashing the War PartyWhat about that coming counteroffensive in Ukraine? We ask Anatol LievenWashington is obsessed with reading tea leaves — on politics, policy, social cues, and diplomatic dances. And so is the case with the much anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive this spring. Will it happen? If so, would it change the course of the war? Does Russia have the juice not only to repel it but to launch its own successful bid for more territory? We talk again to Anatol Lieven, former war correspondent, author, and Eurasia expert at the Quincy Institute about what he thinks, given his recent travels to Ukraine just a month ago.In the first segment, Kelley and...2023-05-0544 min
Crashing the War PartyPlease Washington, don't do more in Africa — A conversation with Stephanie SavellThe political and security situation in Sudan is melting down. In Burkino Faso this week, the military dictatorship has been blamed for the massacre of 60 people. Security vacuums in Chad and Mali are attracting business from the Wagner Group, the notorious Russian private military contractor. It seems all over Africa, especially in places where the West and the U.S. have their fingerprints, things are boiling over. Why?Our guest this week, Stephanie Savell, co-director of The Costs of War Project, just returned from Niger and has plenty of thoughts about how Washington security programs throughout the region...2023-04-2842 min
Crashing the War PartyJustin Logan: We can't be 'Uncle Sucker' to Europe for much longerThe New York Times recently declared that the Ukraine War had brought NATO back from the virtual dead. In other words, the alliance has new purpose, which means more troops, more weapons, and more U.S. leadership for the unforeseeable future. This week, Kelley and Dan talk to CATO's Justin Logan about why this is folly, and that there is no reason why Europe needs the U.S. or even an "emboldened NATO" to take on the burden of its own security. In fact, the security situation would remain volatile — or worse — if NATO continues to serve as an expa...2023-04-2139 min
Crashing the War PartyAmerican primacy is everything, everywhere, all at once: a convo with Dan DePetrisWashington's impulse to do something has created a foreign policy consensus that relies on the American military being everywhere, all at once, and all things to everyone in the world. Looking at today's headlines, it would be easy to see how the long arm of U.S. primacy is totally stretched — and becoming more ineffective every day. Syndicated columnist Daniel DePetris talks to us this week about a number of hotspots across the world — from Haiti to the Taiwan Strait — applying some common sense and restraint and talking a bit about what it's like to be on the "wrong side" of to...2023-04-1438 min
Crashing the War PartyDaniel Davis asks: Why are there 900 US troops with targets on their backs still in Syria?Last week the Biden Administration authorized airstrikes on reported Iranian strongholds in eastern Syria in retaliation for an earlier drone attack that left one American contractor and several others — including U.S. servicemembers — wounded. There have been at least 80 attacks on U.S. military personnel there since 2021 and they don't seem to be stopping. We talk to (Ret.) Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, who has been raising the same alarms and questions for several years now: why are we keeping our troops in harm's way in Syria? What is the strategy? Why hasn't the Biden Administration been called on the carpet...2023-03-3148 min
Crashing the War PartyIs Diplomacy Breaking out all over the Middle East? A conversation with Annelle ShelineIn recent days and weeks, we've seen what appears to be serious examples of Arab countries opening up geopolitical avenues — as well as relations — with rivals and even adversaries. This would include Iran and Saudi Arabia's announcement that they were not only talking but reopening embassies in each other's countries for the first time in over a decade, Arab normalization with Israel, and even bringing Bashar Assad of Syria back into the fold. This is all being done irrespective of U.S. help or intervention. If anything, outside powers like China are playing a role, much to Washington's chagrin. Here to...2023-03-2440 min
Crashing the War PartyHow far will America go to stay #1? A conversation with Chris FettweisProfessor Chris Fettweis has spent the better part of his career studying and teaching about how great powers remain great powers and how hard they work to stay on top. He talks to Kelley and Dan this week about how dominant powers and empires get paranoid and worry about their reputations and credibility, and sometimes that skews their decision making skills. He discusses, too, his thoughts on the foreign policy blob and why we can't seem to have rational conversations over U.S. national interests. In the first segment, Dan & Kelley talk about the ongoing Nord Stream sa...2023-03-1040 min
Crashing the War PartyDoes Ron DeSantis have the juice — for peace? Bonnie Kristian discussesAuthor and columnist Bonnie Kristian joins us this week to talk about the prospects of a Ron DeSantis policy, and more specifically, what a Ron DeSantis foreign policy might look like. She did a deep dive on this for the New York Times, and addresses the Florida governor's recent comments on Ukraine, his set up as a potential "restraint" rival of Trump, and his questionable positions on other hot-button issues, like Iran.In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about the Biden Administration's accusations that China is "considering" giving lethal weapons to Russia for its war i...2023-03-0340 min
Crashing the War PartyWar, War, Evermore: The Russian Invasion Anniversary, w/ Lyle GoldsteinOver a year ago, Lyle Goldstein, director of Asian engagement at Defense Priorities, came on Crashing the War Party and was one of the few foreign policy analysts warning that Russia was likely to invade Ukraine, pointing out that the seeming US-NATO resistance to a more diplomatic path could lead to what we are seeing today. He talks to Kelley and Dan on the anniversary of the Feb. 24 Russian invasion about the current battlefield conditions — which are not good for either side — and where we could be headed in 2023. We also talk to Lyle about Washington's increasingly dangerous approach to China...2023-02-2441 min
Crashing the War PartyA U.S. Marine turns against American Empire: A conversation with Lyle Jeremy RubinIn his recent book, Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body: A Marine's Unbecoming, U.S. Marine Corps veteran Lyle J. Rubin threads his five-year experience — as a candidate in Marine officer school and serving in Afghanistan, as well as his shift in thinking about the Global War on Terror, the U.S. military as an institution, and his opposition to militarized U.S. foreign policy today — into a poignant memoir. He shares this and more with us in a special conversation this week. In the first segment, Kelley & Dan talk about Nikki Haley's prospects for president and the hawkish bagga...2023-02-1743 min
Crashing the War PartyHow to stop worrying and love the peace plan in Ukraine, w/ Miranda PriebeA protracted war could end up destroying Ukraine. A wider confrontation between two nuclear powers — U.S. and Russia — could lead to World War III. So what to do to stop it? We talk to Rand Corp. grand strategist Miranda Priebe, who just co-authored a powerful new paper promoting concrete measures for bringing both Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table in order to end the madness before the worst can happen. In the first segment, Dan & Kelley talk about China Balloon-gate and how the Washington frenzy could very well blow us into a war, if cooler heads don't prevail...2023-02-1036 min
Crashing the War PartyEthan Paul asks: Are we losing our minds over China?Journalist Ethan Paul answers his own question with an affirmative "yes!" on our show this week as we discuss the fever swamp of saber-rattling and chicken-littling in Washington today. What does it all mean? Where will it lead us? On the former, we talk about invested interests in ballooning the defense industry and Pentagon budgets, the political advantage of looking "tough on China," and the conflation of economic and military "threats." On the former, Paul warns that the threat inflation could lead to actual war.In the first segment, Kelley and Dan serve up some tasty headlines: Is...2023-02-0238 min
Crashing the War PartySuzanne Loftus: Is the US blowing through its lines of escalation in Ukraine?The last two months have seen the U.S. cross what appeared to be its own lines against giving advanced weapons to Ukraine. First, the announcement to send a Patriot Missile battery to the embattled country; then this week, news that within a week, the administration seemingly changed its mind about sending its most sophisticated tanks — the M-1 Abrams — into the battlefield. Suzanne Loftus, author of the forthcoming book, "Russia, China, and the West in the Post-Cold War Era: The Limits of Liberal Universalism," joins us to talk about whether this is a slow escalation to direct conflict with Russ...2023-01-2742 min
Crashing the War PartyWar was always a racket and Ukraine is no different. A convo w/ Bill HartungThere is no doubt that the war in Ukraine — as brutally destructive it has been for the Ukrainian people — is a boon to America's top defense contractors: think Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics. As our guest Bill Hartung, author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military Industrial Complex, points out, the U.S. weapons pipeline to Ukraine has not only allowed these companies to amp up production lines, but they are getting all sorts of regulatory short-cuts and allowances from Congress to do it. This includes budgets and favorable measures they had been...2023-01-2037 min
Crashing the War PartyWhat would a progressive world order look like? Michael Brenes weighs inThe war in Ukraine will end with a negotiated settlement (no one knows how or when) but whatever it will be will likely forge the basis of a new European security order if not an international one, says Yale historian Michael Brenes. What would that order look like? He suggests it should be one in which the U.S. and other great powers play a role in eventually bringing the Global South into a multilateral embrace of shared national interests and around 'progressive' values beyond security — like economic development, health care, social justice, and climate change. Can this...2023-01-1342 min
Crashing the War PartyBen Friedman: The world will survive if the U.S. stops stationing its troops everywhereThe U.S. military has over 270,000 troops currently deployed across the globe, including in 17 countries that the public up until now didn't even know about. Our guest this week, Ben Friedman, a senior analyst with Defense Priorities, takes on the Washington shibboleth that we couldn't possibly start bringing any of those troops home — particularly the thousands in the Middle East and Europe — because they would leave "power vacuums." He argues that even if there is a "security gap" left in our place, there are regional powers that can step into the breach. In the first segment, Daniel and Kelley talk a...2023-01-0638 min
Crashing the War PartyDude, where's my war powers? Annelle Sheline on the big Yemen vote disappointmentCongress had a chance to assert its war powers and end U.S. assistance to Saudi Arabia in the Yemen War. But President Biden helped to strangle the effort in the cradle and a vote in December was never held. Quincy Institute Middle East expert Annelle Sheline joins us this week to talk about what happened, and Senator Bernie Sanders' pledge to bring the issue back in early 2023. Kelley and Dan also take stock of the two major issues in 2022 foreign policy — Russia/Ukraine and China — and how the Washington establishment is failing us on both fronts, pushing us dange...2022-12-2343 min
Crashing the War PartyCountdown to doom? Scott Horton on 2022, a year of war and great power calamityOn this episode, Kelley interviews the great podcast host, author, and anti-war activist Scott Horton. The two engage in a wide-ranging discussion about Ukraine, the war party in Washington, and why right-leaning combat veterans are increasingly joining efforts to hold the government Constitutionally responsible for sending men and women off to war. Always funny, but deadly serious, Scott uses his encyclopedic knowledge of U.S. foreign policy to indict the players, poseurs, and profit-makers who made 2022 another dangerous year.More from Scott Horton:Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan (2017)Enoug...2022-12-1659 min
Crashing the War PartyNicolai Petro and what Greek tragedy has to do with ending the war in UkraineThe Ukrainian people -- all of the Ukrainian people -- need catharsis and reconciliation before healing. When they can begin, in the face of ongoing war with Russia, is the question we put to Ukraine scholar Nicolai Petro, whose book, "The Tragedy of Ukraine: What Classical Greek Tragedy Can Teach Us About Conflict Resolution" is released next week. We talk about the history, the competing identities, and the institutional barriers within Ukraine that have made the East-West conflict what it is today. Dan and Kelley also discuss Russia's decision to ditch nuclear talks and how the one nuclear treaty left be...2022-12-0935 min
Crashing the War PartyChris Coyne: It takes Illiberal people to run a US-led Liberal World OrderEver wonder what it takes to build an American empire? George Mason University professor and Chris Coyne, who just released his new Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace, talks to Kelley and Dan about the building blocks of the so-called US liberal world order, which he argues is powered by a leviathan of good soldiers — autocratic, authoritarian, conformist stewards of imperialism and American primacy — the very opposite of the 'liberal' face they want the world, and fellow Americans, to see. In the first segment, our hosts talk about Israel's constant push for a US w...2022-12-0233 min
Crashing the War PartyRepublicans in the House! What does the new majority mean? Jim Antle breaks it downWe can finally say that Republicans will take the majority in the House of Representatives in January. So what does this mean for foreign policy — especially the new $37 billion package President Biden wants to push through the lame duck session this December? The Washington Examiner’s politics editor Jim Antle joins us to break down how this super-slim majority will actually give an edge to Republicans who have been critical of the aid and in favor of a more restrained foreign policy. He discusses the different flavors of these GOP critics, and how this may be setting up a real...2022-11-1841 min
Crashing the War PartyRumble in Washington: the impact of the midterms on foreign policy, w/ Erik SperlingWhat a week! As of right now it’s still not clear which party will be running the Congress after Tuesday’s competitive midterm elections. We talk to Just Foreign Policy’s Erik Sperling about the foreign policy implications of a new potential Republican majority in the House and/or Senate — and which issues might be affected by the change, including the hottest one of the moment, Ukraine. We also discuss the White House’s new “diplomacy talk” with Russia. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about Bush-era interventionists and neocons trying get into the act by refashioning t...2022-11-1134 min
Crashing the War PartyDavid Hendrickson on what John Quincy Adams would think about the US-led 'global order'Over 200 years ago, then-U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams warned how overseas militarism, even in the name of liberty, could change the very nature of the republic: "She (America) well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force." So how...2022-11-0439 min
Crashing the War PartyWho needs friends when you got quasi-allies? A conversation with Natalie ArmbrusterThis week, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman reiterated the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review, which states that "the United States would only consider the employment of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States, its allies, and partners. Extreme circumstances could include significant non-nuclear strategic attacks." Natalie Armbruster of Defense Priorities joins us this week to talk about who is formally a US ally — and not — and how over the years Washington has built a web of entangling alliances of different formalities and caliber, drawing the US into fights and causing others that h...2022-10-2840 min
Crashing the War PartySurprise: Americans and the Washington blob see foreign policy a bit differentlyEver feel like the Washington crowd doesn't talk your language when it comes to how the government solves its problems overseas? After 20 years of war, it seems Americans are much more circumspect about war powers, sending weapons to dictators, the US military footprint in Asia, even the current war in Ukraine, according to a new poll by the Eurasia Group Foundation. Senior researcher and podcast producer Caroline Gray joins us to break down the results, which show younger voters are perhaps the most resistant to the status quo of all. In the first segment, Dan and Kelley talk about th...2022-10-0739 min
Crashing the War PartyTed Carpenter: The media is an unreliable watchdog and a handmaiden of warIn this episode, longtime US foreign policy author and critic Ted Carpenter talks about his new book cataloging the editorial crimes of the American press corps, starting with Yellow Journalism and the Spanish American War, through Vietnam, the Iraq War, and Ukraine today. Media bias in favor of American primacy and exceptionalism has allowed Washington to not only get the public behind their political wars of choice but stay in them long after they've been lost. In the second segment, Kelley and Dan talk about Russia's apparent plans to annex four areas of Ukraine and what that will mean f...2022-09-3037 min
Crashing the War PartyDave DeCamp, anti-war news wrangler, the wartime editionThis week Dan and Kelley talk to Dave DeCamp, who has literally written thousands of news reports for AntiWar.com, the nearly 30-year-old independent news and views source for the non-interventionist, anti-imperialist community. Dave just started a new podcast there, and talks to us about how he landed at Antiwar, what motivates him to work 24/7 for the cause, and this week's headlines regarding U.S. policies toward China and the war in Ukraine. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about Biden's strange "gaffe" in which he declared on 60 Minutes that he would send U.S. troops to d...2022-09-2337 min
Crashing the War PartyIs progressive foreign policy really in crisis? A chat w/ Stephen WertheimIs progressive foreign policy in crisis? Stephen Wertheim, author of Tomorrow the World: The Birth of U.S.Global Supremacy doesn't really think so, but he does recognize a serious debate between progressives who want to actively promote democracy and confront global authoritarianism, and those who believe such efforts could entangle the U.S. in conflicts that are averse to national interests. These divisions have been put into stark contrast during today's war in Ukraine. Dan and Kelley talk to Stephen about that, and a possible war with China over Taiwan. In the first segment, our hosts discuss a n...2022-09-1639 min
Crashing the War PartyAre we asking for war in the Pacific? A conversation with Lyle GoldsteinThe headlines are almost scary these days: China and Russia together engaging in massive military drills — including live-fire exercises in the Sea of Japan — the US sailing so-called 'freedom of navigation" operations through the Taiwan strait, Taiwan boosting its defense budget in anticipation of a Chinese attack. The tensions are high since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to visit Taipei this summer in a sort of declaration of defiance against China. Is the US asking for something it can't readily finish? China military expert and author Lyle Goldstein thinks so. He talks to us this week about the strategic dyna...2022-09-0940 min
Crashing the War PartyWhen you're investing in Empire and don't even know it, w/ Daniel BessnerFor decades Americans have been conditioned to support the idea of American Exceptionalism and the nation's obligation to promote its liberal values globally, even if it means war. This is at the very root of the American Empire, author and podcaster Daniel Bessner tells us in this week's episode. Movements are afoot to expose the narrative and start adjusting to new realities on the world stage — if only the Washington blob would get out of the way. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about the violence in Baghdad this week and how the U.S. screwed up its c...2022-09-0239 min
Crashing the War PartyAdam Weinstein: Stop trying to put Afghanistan in the rearviewIt's been a year since the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban took over, leaving Afghans behind with an uncertain future. The 20-year war had ended but instead of facing its mistakes and making sure Afghanistan doesn't become a festering wound, Washington has refused to work diplomatically with the Taliban or help ease the economic situation that is driving the country into a spiraling humanitarian crisis. U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Quincy Institute fellow Adam Weinstein breaks it down for us. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about the establishment media's latest attempt...2022-08-2635 min
Crashing the War PartySorry America, China and Russia aren't going anywhere soon — a conversation with Ali WyneIn this episode, Daniel talks to Ali Wyne, author of “America’s Great-Power Opportunity: Revitalizing U.S. Foreign Policy to Meet the Challenges of Strategic Competition.” They discuss the potential dangers of defining U.S. foreign policy simply in terms of countering Russia and China, the need for internal American renewal, and steps to be taken to avoid the Great Power war. In the first segment, Dan and Kelley talk about a compelling new report that shows the European people are actually tired of the US-led security umbrella. The question is, are their governments willing and able to start investing...2022-08-1949 min
Crashing the War Party"Why do they hate us?" John Tirman on the dueling myths keeping Iran and the US from getting togetherThe U.S. has been locked in a delicate dance with its European partners and Iran over re-entry into the Iran nuclear deal for more than a year. Meanwhile, relations between the two countries are either frozen or dangerously hot — never in-between. How did it get this way? Is there anyone in the US government who doesn't view Tehran as the enemy? Will Iran's own mullahs dial down the rhetoric long enough to see their country through to a better way? Author and MIT researcher John Tirman shares his extensive research with Dan and Kelley this week. In the fi...2022-08-1242 min
Crashing the War PartyA militarized America is not my America: A conversation with Monica Duffy ToftAfter the fall of the Soviet Union, scholar (and former Army linguist) Monica Duffy Toft noticed something odd: the number of U.S. interventions overseas seemed to go up, not down, after the Cold War was supposedly over. Today, she is fully embroiled in a project that is collecting data on all of those interventions, their toll on the American taxpayer, and on peace across the globe, and is coming up with some disturbing conclusions about the nature of American exceptionalism and the military-industrial complex. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about Nancy Pelosi's big trip to T...2022-08-0539 min
Crashing the War PartyWill "autocracies vs. democracies" extend to our economic world order? w/ Marcus StanleyThe U.S. seems determined to manage the world order, even if that means taking the current integrated global economic system and re-calibrating it based on shared national security concerns — like the West on the one side, China and Russia on the other, and the 'non-aligned' like India and the rest of the Global South pressured to pick a team. That seems to be afoot given recent statements by the U.S. Treasury Secretary and the State Department. Here to talk about it is the Quincy Institute's advocacy director and economic policy expert Marcus Stanley. In the first segment, Danie...2022-07-2245 min
Crashing the War PartyUS secret proxy wars across the globe and why you don't know about them, w/ Nick TurseNick Turse is the master of annoying the Pentagon with his pesky questions about their secret military deployments and how they're spending U.S. taxpayer dollars in places you've never heard of. He lives up to his reputation with a new Intercept piece, written with Alice Speri: "How the Pentagon uses a secretive program to wage proxy wars." This week, we discuss how their Freedom of Information requests resulted in a ton of new information about special operations missions across the Middle East and Africa, and how successive administrations and Congress have done nothing about it. In the first se...2022-07-1536 min
Crashing the War PartyThree ways the Ukraine War could end but may not, with Rajan MenonAfter four months the war is grinding on with Russia gaining territory in the east, day by day. Scholar and author Rajan Menon joins the show this week to talk about the ways this could end: De facto partitioning? Neutrality with sweeteners? A new Russia? In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aklheh in May. A U.S. forensic investigation found this week that the bullet indeed came from an Israeli Defense Forces gun, but also determined it was "unintentional." How do they know? We'll discuss.Mo...2022-07-0838 min
Crashing the War PartyWhy Southeast Asia is not easily bullied or bossed by the West, w/ Sebastian StrangioAs President Biden sets out to fit the world into a "democracies versus autocracies" frame and more importantly, firm up allies in his China containment policy, the countries in Southeast Asia — including Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia — have other ideas. We talk to Sebastian Strangio, Southeast Asia editor for The Diplomat, on how these countries are positioning on China, the war in Ukraine, and their complicated relationship with the United States. In the first segment, Kelley & Dan talk about reports of the CIA secretly operating in Kyiv and what this means for Biden's "no boots on the ground" strategy in Ukrai...2022-07-0146 min
Crashing the War PartyNow that we need Venezuelan oil, what should the US do? w/ William NeumanThe Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent oil and gas embargoes have triggered an energy crisis and sent the Biden Administration in search of the dreaded fossil fuels to increase world supplies and stave off price hikes. This is where Venezuela comes in. William Neuman, author of "Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela," gives us a clear-eyed view of the recent history of Venezuela's economic collapse, its broken relations with Washington, and America's regime change desires. He also talks about how Ukraine has upended all of that, opening a window f...2022-06-2443 min
Crashing the War PartyDo petrostates rule the world? A conversation with Emma AshfordBlack gold: Oil is responsible for making great powers, provoking endless military conflict, and splitting the world between dependents and power brokers. There is nothing like a petrostate, says Emma Ashford, who just released the book, "Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates." Emma's book explores why this resource is the most powerful driver of not only global economics, but politics and foreign policy, and how its influence is a lead actor in today's headlines, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and global inflation. In the first segment, Kelley & Dan discuss Ben Sasse's sassy foreign policy sp...2022-06-1038 min
Crashing the War PartyDoes NATO really need Finland and Sweden? With Justin LoganIs Russia poised to invade Sweden or Finland? Likely not. So what problem does adding both countries to NATO solve? Furthermore, how much is the U.S. willing to defend these countries down the road? Kelley and Dan talk to Cato Institute's Justin Logan about why offering them membership is an "impetuous move" that will likely cost more than the immediate benefit. In the first segment, we explore the potential disaster that awaits the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles this month, as several Latin American leaders have threatened to boycott the annual event because Biden insists on play...2022-06-0336 min
Crashing the War PartyAre Americans truly on board with Washington's Ukraine war strategy? An interview with Dan CaldwellIraq war veteran Dan Caldwell talks to Dan and Kelley this week about his work at Stand Together, Concerned Veterans of America, and about how he is trying to challenge Washington's hubristic war policies, including its current approach to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He says the American people have had no say in the $50 billion in weapons and aid pledged and fast-tracked to Kyiv, and senses that lawmakers, mostly Republicans, are starting to push back because their constituents are getting restive. In the intro segment, we talk about Tom Cotton's new turn as a Jacksonian-America First-interventionist. M...2022-05-2044 min
Crashing the War PartyLifting the veil on Biden's Ukraine-Russia war advisors, with James CardenWondering why the Biden administration's Ukraine policy seems so scattershot? Who exactly is giving him advice and where did they come from? Asia Times columnist and longtime blob-watcher James Carden joins us to answer some of these million-dollar (or should we say $40 billion) questions. He finds that most of the tight inner circle are Obama holdovers — surprise! — toeing the status quo foreign policy consensus in Washington. In our first segment, Dan and Kelley chat about the third anniversary of Trump ripping the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, and the window slowly closing ahead of the midterms for i...2022-05-1344 min
Crashing the War PartyWe're not all that: US ego and our credibility obsession, with Chris FettweisThe United States makes a lot of stupid mistakes and policy choices driven by the idea that not only are we the center of the universe, but by our obsession with maintaining "credibility." Tulane professor Chris Fettweis, author of Pathologies of Power, and Psychology of a Superpower, talks to Kelley and Dan about how it's comforting to think we are in control and can shape the way other leaders — like Vladimir Putin —behave. Can't we? In the first segment, we discuss the not-so-subtle shift in Washington rhetoric toward a direct, existential conflict with Moscow, with at least one lawmaker, Rep...2022-05-0638 min
Crashing the War PartySenator Rand Paul says the quiet part out loud on Putin, Ukraine, and NATOIt's our one-year anniversary at Crashing the War Party, and what better way to celebrate it than to interview one of our favorite voices on foreign policy restraint— Senator Rand Paul. Dan and Kelley talk to the Kentucky senator about that exchange with Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week, where he challenged the administration dangling NATO in front of Ukraine while agitating Putin before the March invasion. He discusses the perils of escalation, the possibility of Finland and Sweden joining NATO, Putin's miscalculations, as well as the ongoing war in Yemen, and his support for rejoining the Iran nuclea...2022-04-2932 min
Crashing the War PartyThe Ukraine war and impending commodities "super cycle" w/ Amir HandjaniWheat, corn, and sunflower exports from Eastern Europe have been severely impacted by the war, and guess what, the countries most affected are those already reeling from Western-led/assisted wars and famine (Yemen), economic breakdown and instability (Lebanon), and systemic corruption and repression (Egypt). Bottom line, says energy and markets expert Amir Handjani: the poorest people of the Middle East. While everyone has been talking about skyrocketing energy prices due to the war in Ukraine, a more potentially catastrophic situation is just around the corner. In the first half, Dan & Kelley discuss Sweden and Finland and their sudden yearning to...2022-04-2200 min
Crashing the War PartyIs the U.S. headed for a crisis with Iran? w/ Sina AzodiThis week we talk about time running out for Washington to seal the Iran deal and why the talks have seemingly stalled. George Washington University PhD candidate Sina Azodi discusses how lifting the IRGC terrorism designation has become a key sticking point in the debate, and how political pressures on Biden get worse as the midterm elections loom. In our first segment, Kelley and Daniel compare the "two Americas" as described by neoconservative and optimistic primacist Robert Kagan on one hand, and Daniel Bessner, a critic of empire on the other.More from Sina Azodi:I...2022-04-1500 min
Crashing the War PartyFriend or frenemy? Mitchell Plitnick discusses Middle East posturing on Russia-UkraineIt usually takes a crisis to show who your real friends are. Writer Mitchell Plitnick joins us to talk about how Middle East despots are suddenly jockeying to make sure their own interests are protected if not enhanced in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Even Israel, which gets $3 billion in US taxpayer dollars each year, is threading needles to avoid hurting its own relationship with Moscow. We talk about that as well as Biden's attempt to square his "democracies versus autocracies" campaign with Washington's embrace of the Middle East despots. Dan and Kelley also speculate about Biden's "r...2022-04-0142 min
Crashing the War PartyKelsey Atherton on the fog of war and discerning science from sci-fi in UkraineAs the mainstream media pumps out report after report on military developments in Ukraine, Washington lawmakers use those headlines to call for more weapons and assistance to Kyiv. Military technology journalist Kelsey Atherton breaks down some of the mythology surrounding no-fly zones, drones, and other popular "magic bullets" that people think could save the day in Ukraine. In the first segment, Kelley & Dan dish on the Top 4 Outrageous Hawk Talkers in the news this week.More from Kelsey Atherton:Everything to know about Switchblades, the attack drones the US is giving Ukraine -- Popular Science...2022-03-2545 min
Crashing the War PartyDon't fear the mob: why keeping up war skepticism is healthy, with Ben FriedmanThis week Ben Friedman, policy director for Defense Priorities, joins Dan and Kelley to talk about the ongoing struggle of restraint amid the mainstream push for an aggressive response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He talks about recent decisions to send more U.S. weapons to Kiev, and efforts by hawks in the U.S. to do more, including imposing a no-fly zone and sending Polish fighter aircraft (MiG-29s) into Ukraine via Germany. We also talk about the effort to marginalize, even demonize voices who question the utility of such endeavors. In the first segment, Dan and Ke...2022-03-1843 min
Crashing the War PartyWarning from the recent past: Don't make Ukraine another Afghanistan, w/ Matthew HohSoldier, whistleblower, veteran, and peace advocate Matthew Hoh tells us what it was like to realize that the Afghanistan mission was a failure and that everyone around him knew it — but kept it going for 20 years anyway. Hoh resigned his post as a State Department official in 2009 making space for other dissenters inside the government to criticize the war policy, though the U.S. role in that war would go on for more than a decade longer. Matt talks to us about that, and how he fears the same forces for regime change and military aggression are present in to...2022-03-1144 min
Crashing the War PartyBiden's 'democracies v. autocracies' is put to the test, fails miserably, w/ Sara Leah WhitsonDuring his State of the Union address this week, President Biden announced that the global community of democracies was facing off against Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the international rules-based order is stronger than ever. We talk to Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN (which was founded by Jamal Khashoggi, murdered by killers tied to U.S. friends in the Saudi government) about some uncomfortable truths relating to this battle against evil — namely that many of our partners and friends around the world are not democracies, nor has Washington acted in a democratic fashion, waging its own wa...2022-03-0439 min
Crashing the War PartyUS-Russia in crisis: What next after Putin's bald move in Eastern Ukraine?In this special edition of the podcast, Kelley & Dan talk about Vladimir Putin's move to send 'peacekeepers' into Eastern Ukraine after he recognized the breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states in a fiery speech on Sunday. Will Washington and Kyiv hold back and not take the bait, or will pro-war hawks and humanitarian interventionists push us closer to war and global economic chaos? We also talk to longtime nuclear weapons expert and author Joe Cirincione about his frustration over Biden's status quo nuclear posture, which is all about Great Power Competition and kowtowing to industry interests. We...2022-02-2344 min
Crashing the War PartyThe US finds its new monster to destroy: post-Soviet Russia, with Ted CarpenterLongtime author and Cato Institute Ted Carpenter joins us this week to talk about how the US-Russia-Ukraine crisis is an illustration of Cold War American military primacy and hegemony. If there is a conflagration in upcoming days and months it will be in no small part because of poor decisions made by U.S policymakers, pushed by establishment thinking and interests, over the last two decades, says Carpenter. In the first segment, Dan and Kelley talk about Biden's decision to give half of the Afghans' frozen bank funds to a settlement for 9/11 families at a time when the country's eco...2022-02-1839 min
Crashing the War PartyEnding the longest war in U.S. history — the Korean War, with Jess LeeAs Kim Jong Un continues testing missiles and South Korea warns of a crisis, it seems just like old times. But why? The Biden Administration has not yet restarted serious talks with North Korea and demands of denuclearization is always the mountain standing in the way. The Quincy Institute's Jess Lee joins Kelley & Dan this week to talk about what needs to be done to change the thinking in Washington on this issue, whether Kim Jong Un will ever change his mind on the nukes, and what the U.S. can do to bring peace to the peninsula and p...2022-02-1145 min
Crashing the War PartyLet's talk about those Iran Sanctions w/ Esfandyar BatmanghelidjThis week, Kelley and Dan talk with researcher and Bourse & Bazaar Foundation founder Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, who has been digging deep into the issue of U.S. sanctions on Iran and how they have been driving inflation and mostly impacting the middle and working households there. More importantly, he discusses whether or not U.S. sanctions are even successful in bringing Tehran to heel. In the first segment, we talk about recent mainstream smears against those opposed to a possible war with Russia over Ukraine, particularly on the right, as hawks and their handmaidens in the press single out some of...2022-02-0446 min
Crashing the War PartyAre we the only sane ones in the house? w/ Kyle Anzalone and Connor FreemanThe more people are talking about the cockeyed foreign policy of this country, the better. This week Dan and Kelley join Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman (both at the Libertarian Institute) to chat about their own podcast "Conflicts of Interest," and how they each came to dedicate their energies to challenging establishment orthodoxy and opposing U.S. military policies overseas. We talk about the usual suspects ratcheting up anxiety over Russia and China, and how the 9/11 wars forged their own passion for the issues. In the first segment, Dan & Kelley talk about fresh violence in Yemen and why Congress and...2022-01-2845 min
Crashing the War PartyDid NATO start the fire? Joshua Shifrinson on the US-Russia crisisIf you talk to anyone this week they’ll say that Russia may be closer than ever to invading Ukraine. But why? President Vladimir Putin has drawn a red line over further NATO expansion but Washington isn’t budging, leading to the critical standoff we see today. Joshua Shifrinson, associate professor at Boston University and author of Rising Titans, Falling Giants: How Great Powers Exploit Power Shifts, walks us through the history and missteps that brought us to this place, and whether he thinks war is on the horizon. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about whether NATO...2022-01-2139 min
Crashing the War PartyUS 'Counterterrorism strategy' is failure by another name, w/ Elizabeth ShackelfordAll of the taxpayer-funded security assistance — including US troops, arms and advisors — given to African countries in the name of "counterterrorism" over the last 20 years has only resulted in more coups, more violence, and more terrorists. This week we talk to Elizabeth Shackelford, a former career diplomat with the U.S. State Department and author of The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age, about why. She also explains how this is a microcosm of the failed Global War on Terror writ large. In the intro segment, Dan and Kelley talk about the recent protests in Kazakhstan and how...2022-01-1438 min
Crashing the War PartyAmerica's pied piper act is falling flat in the Asia Pacific, with Sarang ShidoreThe U.S. is on a mission to contain China and it hopes to accomplish this by forging enough agreements with and among partners and allies to create a security hedge against Beijing. The problem is, Washington seems to be tone-deaf and doesn't get it that a number of countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, have no interest in getting on board the anti-China train. Sarang Shidore, director of studies at the Quincy Institute and expert in Asian geopolitics and global geopolitical risk, sets the table for what could be a serious foreign policy tripwire in 2022. In the first segment, Ke...2022-01-0735 min
Crashing the War PartyRobert Wright joins the party, rings out a year of the BlobWe celebrate our last episode of 2021 with Robert Wright — author of The Moral Animal , BloggingheadsTV podcaster, and publisher of the popular Nonzero newsletter. We discuss the continued U.S. military operations in Syria, the spiraling tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine, neocons, and humanitarian interventionists. A virtual holiday grab bag! In the first segment, Kelley & Dan talk about Talon Anvil, the secret U.S. military kill team responsible for thousands of bombings and untold number of civilian deaths in Syria from 2014-2019, according to a new New York Times report.Kelley and Dan will be taking...2021-12-1741 min
Crashing the War PartyAre we really ready for war with Russia? Lyle Goldstein crashes in with a bit of realityLyle Goldstein, author of Meeting China Halfway: How to Defuse the Emerging US-China Rivalry, and director of Asian engagement at Defense Priorities, breaks down the fragile dynamics in Russia over the Ukraine issue, and blames in part, NATO expansion and Washington rhetoric for pushing the boundaries and putting Ukraine itself in "the crosshairs." What would happen if Russia invaded? Goldstein warns the West needs to be careful what it wishes for. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about this week's Democracy Summit and the hypocrisies borne out of the Biden Administration deciding who is "in" and who is "...2021-12-1038 min
Crashing the War PartyStephanie Savell and how post-9/11 US counterterrorism assistance is further destabilizing AfricaThis week, Stephanie Savell, researcher and co-founder of Brown University's Costs of War Project, joins us to talk about her study of how U.S. military assistance — ostensibly for counterterrorism — has created more terrorists and killed untold more people over the last 20 years. She also talks about how Costs of War became an essential tool for measuring not only the financial toll, but the human destruction left behind in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In our first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about the new "Global Posture Review" and how the Biden Administration doesn't seem keen on scaling back th...2021-12-0339 min
Crashing the War PartyPeter Van Buren, those Syria strikes, and the cindered remains of our moral authorityThis week we had the privilege of talking to author and columnist Peter Van Buren, who served with the State Department in Iraq and experienced such a traumatic eye-opener he became a whistleblower and full-time critic of U.S. war policy ever since. We discuss the New York Times investigation of a 2019 bombing of women and children by a secret U.S. special forces unit in Syria, and the delusion that this was an aberration not the rule in Washington foreign policy. In the intro, Kelley and Dan talk about Washington buzz — again — over a possible Russia-Ukraine war. Will the hawk...2021-11-1942 min
Crashing the War PartyChris Preble says the U.S. is no longer "the indispensable" — so what now?Chris Preble, director of the New American Engagement Initiative, joins us this week with some optimistic news: the age of American hegemony may be over, but there are amazing benefits to this new reality! For one, there's plenty of evidence that the so-called "rules-based order" will be just fine without Washington meddling in every problem, planting a troop in every country, or serving as the spear point for liberal democracy across the globe. Chris walks us through the steps to hegemonic recovery. In the intro segment, Kelley and Dan discuss the recent assassination attempt on the Iraqi prime minister an...2021-11-1239 min
Crashing the War PartyThe E-Ring gang that couldn't shoot straight, with Col. Doug MacgregorLongtime insider critic Col. Doug Macgregor schools us on what the military's real motives are as it continues to hype up the threats and build up for WWIII in the South China Sea. He talks about how the generals — there are way too many of them — turned out to be far less capable, less competent, and over-estimated than anyone gave them credit for in the last 20 years. In the first segment, Dan and Kelley talk about Afghanistan on the verge of economic and social collapse, and why the Biden Administration is still refusing to work with the Taliban to avoid i...2021-11-0537 min
Crashing the War PartyBreaking Washington's nasty war habit, w/ (Ret.) Lt. Col. Daniel DavisThis week on the show, Dan and Kelley are joined by Danny Davis, who as a career Army soldier and officer, risked it all in 2012 to publish a searing essay taking the generals to task for lying about conditions on the ground in Afghanistan and painting a rosy picture about what we know now was an unwinnable war. We talk about that, the Army's pivot to Asia, and increasing Washington chatter around whether America will defend Taiwan against China. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about that damning 60 Minutes interview in which a Saudi exile accuses MBS of...2021-10-2936 min
Crashing the War PartyAnatol Lieven, from Russia with LoveThis week, Quincy Institute scholar, author and journalist Anatol Lieven talks to us from Sochi, Russia, where he was a speaker this week at the 18th annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. We talk about the mixed messages the administration is giving out on NATO, and the persisting tensions between Washington and Moscow, and hopes for some semblance of cooperation over Ukraine and nuclear missile agreements. In the first segment, Dan and Kelley wrestle with the legacy of Colin Powell, who died this week at the age of 84.More by Anatol Lieven:Ending the Th...2021-10-2235 min
Crashing the War PartyThe Iran Nuclear Deal is Dying a Slow Death, w/ Assal RadThis week, Assal Rad, senior research fellow a the National Iranian American Council, joins us to talk about why the JCPOA (Iran nuke deal) talks have faltered, if not killed completely by a lack of interest, Washington politics, and no effort taken by the Biden administration to put down the whip and admit the US was wrong to get out of it in the first place. We also discuss the limits of sanctions as a tool of warfare. In the intro segment, Kelley and Dan talk about members of Congress who are literally begging to give the president more w...2021-10-1541 min
Crashing the War PartyJournalist Andrew Cockburn on power and profit and the primordial ooze of American warWe have the pleasure of talking with longtime author and reporter Andrew Cockburn about his new book, “Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine” How are we ever going to scale back our overseas and endless military commitments when it is so damn profitable for the defense industry and the political, parasitical culture around it? Andrew talks candidly about the “living organism” he calls the military-industrial complex, a tangled system of codependency, culture, and the almighty dollar. In the first segment, Dan and Kelley talk about Senator Ted Cruz’s obsession with Russia and the Nordstream 2 pipeline. ...2021-10-0840 min
Crashing the War PartyHave we normalized war by making it more humane? (Ft. Samuel Moyn)Samuel Moyn, author of "Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War," joins Dan and Kelley to talk about how well-intentioned efforts over the last 75 years to make war "less lethal" has legitimized and made war more palatable, therefore protracting conflict rather than shutting it down. He talks about criticisms of his thesis by anti-war advocates and liberal interventionists alike. In the first segment, our hosts discuss the defense budget bonanza, an annual Washington ritual in which common sense and taxpayer dollars are sacrificed on the altar of the military-industrial congressional complex!More from Samuel M...2021-10-0143 min
Crashing the War PartyU.S. presidents and their love for killer drones (Ft. ACLU's Hina Shamsi)This week Kelley & Dan talk to Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, which focuses on unconstitutional policies (think drone war, PATRIOT Act, torture) in U.S. policies, particularly in its Global War on Terror. Shamsi describes for us the evolution of Washington's targeted killing program through Obama and Trump, and up to the latest lethal drone strike that killed 10 civilians in Afghanistan. In the first segment, Kelley & Dan talk about Biden's plan to sell nuclear submarine technology to the Australians in another bid to build a security alliance against China.More from Shamsi:2021-09-2444 min
Crashing the War PartyLies and Betrayal: Can the U.S. military survive the last 20 years?In this episode of Crashing the War Party, Kelley and Dan talk to former Marine officer Jeffrey Groom, author of American Cobra Pilot: A Marine Remembers a Dog and Pony Show. Groom left the service in 2018 disenchanted with what he saw as the institution's contradictions, waste, and hypocrisies, and worse the growing failure of the military to respond and adapt because of sclerotic thinking and messed up priorities at the top. We talk about why we lost in Afghanistan, and whether men and women are still willing to join the service and sacrifice their lives to defend the nation. We al...2021-09-1738 min
Crashing the War PartyHow 9/11 Brought the Tyranny Home, with Chris Coyne and Abigail HallOn this special episode, Dan and Kelley discuss the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the government's use and abuse of that horrifying event to advance its goals of military primacy, not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but across the Middle East and at home here in the United States. They talk to Chris Coyne and Abigail Hall, authors of the recent books Manufacturing Militarism, and Tyranny Comes Home, about the use of propaganda after 9/11, the growth of the massive surveillance state, and the domestic war on terror.More from Coyne and Hall:9/11 militarized law enfor...2021-09-1042 min
Crashing the War PartySpencer Ackerman talks about America's 20-year "Reign of Terror" after 9/11Living as a young writer during 9/11 and its aftermath in New York City, Spencer Ackerman's career as a news reporter soon followed the expanding national security state, with all of its attending domestic and foreign war policies and metastasizing law enforcement powers. Twenty years later, he is looking back and examining the real horror of it all and the impact on American society. Today, he talks to Dan and Kelley about his new book, Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump . In the opening segment, we discuss Israel's continuing meddling in U.S. attempts to get b...2021-09-0341 min
Crashing the War PartyThe biggest Afghanistan whistleblower is still in jail: Kevin Gosztola on the persecution of Julian AssangeThe U.S. is ending its 20-year war in Afghanistan and conventional wisdom now holds that it was largely a failure and a waste of more than $2.5 trillion and countless lives. In 2010, Wikileaks published a massive trove of classified documents that exposed the American government's lies about the war. It was a colossal brief against the war state, but instead of thanking Assange for his service to the truth, he remains imprisoned in London, fighting extradition and prosecution in the U.S. Kelley and Dan talk to journalist and Shadowproof managing editor Kevin Gosztola about the current state of the c...2021-08-2743 min
Crashing the War PartyWho will be held accountable for the 20-year failed enterprise in Afghanistan? An interview w/ Richard HananiaKelley and Dan talk to Richard Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and a Defense Priorities fellow, about the developing news in Afghanistan, the blame game in Washington, lying generals and government officials, and whether the Blob can succeed in making the defeat in Afghanistan an indictment against foreign policy restraint and the antiwar movement. We think not. More from Richard Hanania:Trump could gain from Biden's decision to delay withdrawing from Afghanistan -- NBCNews.com Richard's Substack newsletter This is a public episode. If y...2021-08-2038 min
Crashing the War PartyWhen the backlash means you're doing something right. An interview with Emma AshfordKelley and Dan talk this week with Emma Ashford, an expert at the Atlantic Council's New American Engagement Initiative. Her experience spans the Middle East, Russia, and Europe, and she spends her time swatting down attacks from the Blob as she seeks to change minds about old liberal internationalist order and American primacy. In our first segment, we pay tribute to the loss of two greats in the defense reform community: Mark Perry and Pierre Sprey.More from Emma Ashford:Reality Check #4: Focus on interests, not on human rights with Russia -- The Atlantic Council, wit...2021-08-1336 min
Crashing the War PartyMythology, militarism, and collective amnesia: America’s culture of war, with Mary DudziakMary Dudziak, the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University and co-editor of Making the Forever War: Marilyn B. Young on the Culture and Politics of American Militarism, joins Dan and Kelley this week to talk about the late historian Marilyn Young and her decades-long research into the pathologies of American war-making. We zero in on the popular support for wars, the integration of romantic mythology, and the country’s inability to learn the lessons from each previous conflict. In the first segment, Dan and Kelley talk about the growing national security bureaucracy under Biden, whistleblower Daniel Ha...2021-08-0600 min
Crashing the War PartyIs Saudi Arabia a friend or foe? An interview with Annelle ShelineKelley and Dan talk to the Quincy Institute's Middle East expert Annelle Sheline about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's seeming efforts to "reform" the Kingdom's authoritarianism — and whether those efforts are real, or not. In the first segment, we reunite with our old Empire Has No Clothes comrade Matt Purple to discuss recent violence in our own hemisphere: the recent assassination in Haiti, protests in Cuba, and the U.S. role in both.Read more from Annelle Sheline:The Saudi blockade on Yemen is a war crime, and only civilians suffer from itHow the...2021-07-3054 min
Crashing the War PartyAmerica: the (Un) Exceptional? Sam Goldman on the future of our nation-stateBarbara, Dan, and Kelley talk to GWU professor Samuel Goldman, author of After Nationalism: Being American in an Age of Division, talking about what defines the country today, and how we might re-orient our exceptionalism towards being a model rather than a missionary. In the first segment, Kelley and Dan relive the Donald Rumsfeld of 2002 and 2003, and his Iraq War legacy.More from Goldman:America Has a Ruling Class: Why do members of the political elite insist that they’re not? -- New York Times This is a public episode. If you would l...2021-07-2342 min
Crashing the War PartyRon Paul crashes our party, schools us on Washington's endless warsKelley, Dan, and Barbara pick former Congressman Ron Paul's brain on the Biden administration, the Trump effect, and what inspires him after all of these years to fight Washington and the intractable military-industrial complex. In the first segment, we talk about the June airstrikes and how the White House can bomb anyone, anywhere, whenever, without Congressional approval —and say it has the authority to do so.See Ron Paul's daily Liberty Report The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with o...2021-07-1641 min
Crashing the War PartyPaying to play in Washington: winners, losers and suckersOn this week’s episode, we talk to Ben Freeman at the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative about how Washington think tanks — particularly foreign policy and national security institutions — are taking hundreds of millions of dollars from the government, foreign countries, and the defense industry. In many cases, they aren’t disclosing it. How is this affecting policy, more specifically, is it feeding the threat of inflation keeping us on a continuous war footing? In our first segment, Dan, Barbara and Kelley talk about the pressure on President Biden to keep a military presence in or around Afghanistan. Ben Freem...2021-07-0947 min
Crashing the War PartyThe trillion-dollar plane that can't fly: Dan Grazier on the F-35 fighterIn this week's episode, Kelley, Dan & Barb talk to Marine Corps veteran and Project on Government Oversight defense analyst Dan Grazier about the boondoggle F-35 fighter, and how the anti-China threat inflation is driving procurement in the Pentagon. He gets into how the sausage is made in the Pentagon budget, and we got close to losing our appetite. In the intro segment, we talk about Biden's recent trip to Europe and NATO's new "China mission."Dan Grazier's latest article, "Inflating the China Threat to Balloon the Pentagon Budget" This is a public episode. If you wo...2021-07-0240 min
Crashing the War PartyGreg Brew and why the CIA toppled Iran's government in 1953Historian Greg Brew talks about his upcoming book, "Oil and the Cold War: the Iranian Crisis of 1951-1954," which fleshes out the CIA-backed 1953 coup which toppled the elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. He offers some new and provocative insights on the incident, which is a stain on U.S. foreign policy and in many respects the foundation of the fraught relationship between Washington and Tehran ever since. Barbara, Kelley, and Dan also talk about today's imperial behavior on the high seas: U.S. ships interdicting Iranian ships in international waters.See Greg's latest here: "Panic at...2021-06-2538 min
Crashing the War PartyWould we go to war for Ukraine or is Biden just blustering?Barbara, Dan and Kelley talk to George Washington University lecturer and Defense Priorities fellow Ben Friedman about the stakes of provoking greater conflict with Russia in Ukraine. Recent Biden administration rhetoric via NATO suggests that Washington will continue to put it’s thumb on the scale without really planning to fight for Ukraine militarily. We also talk about Biden’s puzzling decision to not renew the no-brainer Open Skies treaty. Ben’s latest in NBCnews.com: “Biden doesn't like Russia's meddling in Ukraine. But he's not prepared to stop it” This is a public episode. If...2021-06-1846 min
Crashing the War PartyWe believe: the government knows more about UFOs than it let onOn a very special Crashing the War Party, Barbara, Dan and Kelley 'want to believe' …that our government will finally come clean with what it knows about UFO sightings dating back to the 1940s. We interview Gideon Lewis-Kraus about his exhaustive piece in the New Yorker, “How the Government Started Taking UFOs Seriously,” which reveals that while believers and sightings by Americans were being mocked, the government was studying the phenomenon all along. He also talks about the new legitimacy around the issue in the media and on Capitol Hill, and about the Congressional task force set to release its new...2021-06-0745 min
Crashing the War PartyA change in the wind in US-Israel policy in Washington?After violence exploded in Israel and Gaza last month the Biden administration helped broker a ceasefire, but is it enough? Kelley, Barbara and Dan talk about the new and growing opposition to Washington's "blank check" to Tel Aviv with nothing in return. Also, we talk to Jason Paladino from the Project on Government Oversight about Pentagon secrecy, and how we still don't know how many troops we have in the world's hotspots. The latest from Jason at POGO:The Navy Wants to Throw Its Internal Auditor OverboardHow a “Small Business” Kingpin Wins Billio...2021-06-0447 min
Crashing the War PartySamson vs. Goliath: Eli Clifton's battle against the Washington BlobInvestigative journalist Eli Clifton joins Barbara, Daniel, and Kelley to talk about the corruption and hypocrisy that makes this city go, starting with the dark money and blatant corporate, foreign, and government funding into think tanks and lobbying for a preferred interventionist agenda. Plus, crazy Beltway headlines that will make you cringe (and your pocketbook shrink)!Eli is a senior advisor for The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and investigative journalist for Responsible Statecraft.His latest issue brief, written with Ben Freeman of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative, on Restoring Trust in Think Tank Sector...2021-05-2159 min
Crashing the War PartyAfghanistan: graveyard of empires, pundits and profiteersSo what what does it feel like to be vindicated by history? We ask radio host Scott Horton, author of Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan and Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism about his 20-year fight against U.S. war policies, which are largely considered a colossal failure. Kelley, Barbara and Daniel also talk about anti-Russia hysteria carrying over into the Biden Administration. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bon...2021-05-1456 min
Crashing the War PartyBiden's tango in the Middle East, from Iran to Yemen and back, featuring Trita ParsiThis week, Kelley, Barbara, and Dan talk about Yemen: how it was so easy to get into this war six years ago but so difficult for Washington to get out. Then we talk to Trita Parsi, author of Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy and Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States, and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He talks to us about the damage done after President Trump ripped the U.S. out of the nuclear deal with Iran (JCPOA), and how President Biden’s...2021-05-0758 min
Crashing the War PartyThe Elites had their chance: foreign policy in a post-Trump world w/ Brad PolumboIt's been nearly 20 years and it looks like we will finally be leaving Afghanistan -- can we believe it? Barb, Dan, and Kelley talk about realistic expectations for ending the war. Then we interview FEE writer, author, and podcaster Brad Polumbo about the nation's militarized police, anti-war Republicans, confronting the military-industrial complex, and the Blob's fascination with the "China threat."See Brad’s latest on FEE:Biden’s Labor Secretary Just Threatened Independent Contractors This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get a...2021-04-2857 min
Crashing the War PartyWe weren't invited but we are crashing the Beltway's love affair with war -- won't you join us?Barbara, Kelley, and Dan aren't invited but they are crashing the party anyway. In this first episode, they will get it off their chests: the Beltway Blob is corrosive and toxic, lacking in self-awareness and helping the U.S. bumble and stumble into back foreign policy decisions while marginalizing voices of reason and restraint. We'll talk, too, about the war hangover and how to start cleaning up the mess. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit crashingthewarparty.substack.com2021-04-2820 min